Explosion
by Plasma Snow
Summary: Based on the Whumptober prompt 'Explosion'. October 2nd, Explosion. Hiccup is blinded after an incident in the dragon training arena. After waking from his comatose state, how will he take this surprising news? Hiccup and Stoick and Hiccup and Toothless bonding. Takes place during Riders and Defenders of Berk.


October 2nd-Explosion

_Augh…what happened? What's going on? Why's it so dark in here?_

_Wait...a memory? A nightmare? Fire...it's so hot. Why can't I see?! Help!_

"Help!" Hiccup sat straight up in his bed on Berk with sweat dripping down his face. It was still dark and he could feel the presence of his father nearby when two large hands lay over his shoulders soothingly. Toothless was close by, making sure to nuzzle his rider and coo comfortingly.

Hiccup sighed deeply when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder, but was confused when he came to his senses and realized something else.

There were bandages covering his eyes.

Bringing his hand up to touch his cloth bandages which were likely put their by Gothi, Hiccup shivered in slight fear and mostly confusion.

His memory began coming back to him. It was an explosion. Barf and Belch had left a lot of their Zippleback gas in the arena after getting angry at Hookfang. Everyone ran to leave and Hiccup was the only one left. He tried to run to the entrance of the arena but his prosthetic leg got caught on a piece of metal.

He was so close to the entrance. So close. Despite the distance between himself and the door, that one tiny spark left by his prosthetic leg and metal caused an immediate reaction. The Zippleback gas caught fire. An explosion.

Hiccup was left unconscious, burns lining his back and the back of his knees. His face was burned too. Gothi had said his eyes were destroyed. Hiccup remembered this. He'd been half awake when she was bandaging his eyes.

"Dad...am I going to see again?" Hiccup asked in a weak voice, shaking slightly as he began noticing the pain in his back. Stoick noticed this and removed the bandages from his son's bare torso, changing them out at a slow pace while Hiccup was already sitting up.

"What are you doi-nnng…" Hiccup bit his tongue and let out a low whimper like hiss as his father rubbed some sort of cold ointment on his burns. They weren't as bad as they could've been, but his skin was peeling and skin raw, blisters lining his shoulders. At least they didn't damage any important tissue.

"Helping." Stoick said gruffly. Hiccup knew he wasn't mad at his son. No. His father didn't want to talk because he didn't want to answer his son's question.

After Stoick was done changing his bandages Hiccup was left in a cold sweat. He faced Toothless who cooed and purred, licking his rider's unscathed front torso and blowing warm air in his hair. Hiccup chuckled lightly when the warm breath tickled the back of his neck, then coughed when the motion caused pain in his back.

"Dad?" Hiccup asked, grabbing his father's much larger hand when Stoick began getting up to grab something from downstairs.

Stoick sighed deeply, stress in his tone when he spoke again.

"Will I be able to be chief one day even though I'm blind?" There was fear in Hiccup's tone though Stoick was surprised by his son was suppressing his emotions as well as he was. Any other viking who'd just went blind would be scared and in disbelief. Hiccup was just...accepting it.

Stoick sat down on a chair next to his son's bed. Right now he had to be strong like Hiccup was. He wasn't a chief right now. He was a father and he had to remember that.

"Yes son." Stoick opened his arm and held his sixteen year old boy close. Hiccup was much smaller than he was and the father occasionally feared he'd break something.

"We will help you. Gothi will tell us what to do. You'll learn how to navigate the great hall and Toothless will help you around the village for now. Gobber has already started carving labels into the boxes of supplies in the forge so you can find everything. Astrid and Fishlegs had that idea, along with convincing us to make gloves out of shed dragon scales so you don't burn yourself while holding the metal. They figured you wouldn't be able to sense the shape of objects you were forging while using tongs."

Hiccup both blushed and smiled at the same time despite the pain he was in. He hugged his father tighter, small, thin arms unable to wrap completely around the mountain of a man.

"Wow...you guys did all of that while I was out."

Stoick raised an eyebrow and ruffled his son's slightly singed hair.

"Speaking of which you need to stop getting yourself into these situations my boy. You were out for three weeks."

Hiccup's form tensed as he shook his head. "That explains it. You're sure it was three weeks? I was awake when Gothi was dressing my wounds…"

Stoick nodded his head in understanding though he knew his son couldn't see it. The bandages made that obvious.

"We know. You were fighting." Hiccup blushed and Stoick smiled warmly.

"Stronger than we thought you'd be…" Chuckled lightly to hide his sadness at the memory.

"You were unconscious after that, and that's when you were out for three weeks. Gothi said it was normal. Your body needed the time to heal. She still wants you on bed rest until your burns are healed enough to not need the bandages."

Hiccup groaned at that idea even though he knew his father was right. Like hel he was going to try flying a Night Fury with these wounds on his back. They'd reopen and the blisters would likely bust or swell while riding at those speeds.

"Alright. You've got me." Stoick was a tad bit surprised that his son obeyed as quickly as he did, but he had to guess Hiccup was still processing everything. He may not have acted upset at the idea of yet another handicap, but he had to have been having an inner battle.

"Okay son. I'll bring you lunch."

By the time he came back upstairs Hiccup was already sound asleep with Toothless' head on his chest, the Night Fury purring and putting pressure on his boy's wounds as to relieve some pain.


End file.
